


Love Me Lights Out

by rafaelbaseball



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Canonical Minor Character Death, Emotional Comfort, Episode Tag, Falling In Love, Fluff, Levi loves cheesy, Light Angst, M/M, Nico is cheesy, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-24 22:53:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17713184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rafaelbaseball/pseuds/rafaelbaseball
Summary: Episode Tag for 15x12.--Levi glances at himself in the mirror as he washes his hands, grimacing at his bloodshot eyes and blinking hard with discomfort to correct the placement of his contacts. He looks like crap. It’s a relief to know with absolute certainty that even on Valentine’s Day, Nico won’t care.Nico is hot, Nico is confident, Nico likes him, and Nico is the one who will hold Levi in his arms with the promise everything will be okay.





	Love Me Lights Out

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers ahead! I finally managed to watch the episode tonight and just head to get this down. I hope you like it, please let me know what you think and thank you for reading!

It’s nice of Nico to wait.

That’s the only thing Levi will let himself think about as he flushes the toilet he hasn’t used to cover up the sound of the sniffling nobody can hear. Nico’s just outside the door to the bathroom, Levi had insisted he wait there because he has no right to be crying like this, it’s beyond embarrassing; but he’d spent nearly three months visiting Natasha’s room, delivering her updates, checking in on her, encouraging her, doing all these things that have been for nothing.

Not for nothing, he reminds himself. Dr. Grey would be livid if she knew that’d even entered into his mind. It hadn’t been for nothing, they’d given her time, as much time as they could.

But she’s still gone and Garrett is still a widower and Nico is still waiting outside.

Levi glances at himself in the mirror as he washes his hands, grimacing at his bloodshot eyes and blinking hard with discomfort to correct the placement of his contacts. He looks like crap. It’s a relief to know with absolute certainty that even on Valentine’s Day, Nico won’t care.

Nico is hot, Nico is confident, Nico likes him, and Nico is the one who will hold Levi in his arms with the promise everything will be okay.

The second he steps out of the bathroom, Nico is there, his expression neutral but the worry so very present in those dark, brown eyes Levi has come to love so much. Nico’s usually the first one to wake up on the mornings they get to spend together. On New Year’s Day, Levi had blinked his eyes open and Nico had been watching him, a small smile turning up at the corner of his mouth as he’d brushed his fingers up and down Levi’s spine.

Nico had made him breakfast.

“You’ve never made me breakfast,” Levi had said, “I didn’t even know you knew how to make breakfast.”

As it’d turned out, Nico wasn’t very good at it but the bacon had been mostly salvageable and so had the eggs, runny as they might have been. The toast, perfect. “New year, new me,” Nico had told him, laughing when Levi had swatted at his arm.

Cheesy. So cheesy. Levi has loved every second of it.

“Hey,” Nico says now, his voice low and gentle and everything Levi needs it to be. He steps into Levi’s space, lifting a hand to cup Levi’s cheek. “You okay?”

“Not really,” Levi admits, “but I will be.”

Nico drops his hand, this time grasping Levi’s, and nods toward the elevators. “Come with me. I want to show you something.”

Levi follows him without hesitation, willing, always willing, because Nico hasn’t yet led him astray. He can still feel the way Nico had squeezed his shoulder while Dr. Grey had read Natasha’s vows aloud.

_“Now that I found you, it all makes sense. Everything that once was hard feels easy and everything that was once easy is now sublime.”_

He feels it. The weight of the words, the weight of Nico's hand on his shoulder, all of it, in every last part of his body.

It isn’t until Nico is opening the door to the on-call room that Levi realizes he’d spent the whole elevator ride in silence, miles and miles away. For the first time, he resists a little as Nico tries to pull him inside, offering an apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry, I know it’s Valentine’s Day and it’s supposed to be this big romantic day with lots of sweeping romance and meaningful sex and like, staring into each other’s eyes while feeding each other chocolate-covered strawberries and things like that but… we just watched Natasha die on her wedding night. So can we just, you know, maybe take a raincheck?”

Nico studies him and for a minute, Levi worries he’s struck a nerve. He’s flippant sometimes about how much Nico loves to shower him with affection, it’s practically become an inside joke, but he never intends to cross a line. Levi has never had anyone want him the way Nico wants him, has never had anyone want to be there for him no matter what or tell him he’d been missed for Christmas or kiss him on New Year’s Eve. Nico has been his first for so many different things, this is definitely Levi’s first Valentine’s Day worth celebrating, and he knows he’s ruining it but he has no idea how he’s expected to get in Nico’s level for this.

“Look, I’m sorry,” he adds quickly, ducking his head, but then Nico’s pressing a finger to his lips and kissing his forehead and it’s like every worry he’s ever had in the world melts away.

Is that cheesy? That’s definitely cheesy.

“Just come in.” Nico opens the door wider before Levi has a chance to protest and when Levi looks into the room, he swears his heart just about seizes in his chest.

Hanging from a string attached from end of the far wall to the other are a row of the most ridiculous valentines Levi has ever seen from some of his favorite works of pop culture.

_Dungeons & Dragons_: Be Mine! You know Yuan-TI.

_Star Wars_ : Yo-da one for me.

_Star Trek_ (because he’s allowed to love both, he’s had this stupid argument with people before): Care to be my number one? Let’s make it so.

At the very end of the line is a single handcrafted one: I’ll be your Sun Sword if you’ll be the moon of my life.

It just barely makes sense, it’s a weird amalgamation between _Dungeons & Dragons_ and _Game of Thrones_ , but Levi huffs a laugh, turning back to Nico with shining eyes.

“You did this for me?”

Nico shrugs, rubbing sheepishly at the back of his neck. “Link helped. We’ve both been bribing and threatening people all day to stay out of here. I know it’s cheesy but–”

“I love it.” Levi stands up on his toes, draping his arms over Nico’s shoulders as he leans in for a slow, sweet kiss. He smiles once their lips part, resting his forehead against Nico’s with his eyes closed for one quiet, content moment. With a sigh, he melts into Nico’s embrace, trying to stifle a yawn. “Nico, I–”

“I know.” Deft fingers knead gently against Levi’s lower back, eliciting an appreciative moan that seems to echo in the quiet room. Chuckling, Nico carefully shifts so he can kick the door shut, pausing to lock it before returning his attention fully back to Levi and guiding him toward the bed. “There’s still a few hours left before Valentine’s Day is over. Just let me hold you, okay? Let me do that for you.”

Levi only nods, letting Nico navigate the rest of their way so they’re lying beside each other on the bottom bunk, Levi’s back flush against Nico’s chest. Nico scatters kisses over Levi’s hair, the back of his neck, his shoulder blade, rubbing small circles over the the soft skin of his bared hip.

“You’re not allowed to do that,” Nico murmurs, his voice wavering.

Levi frowns, tilting his head, though he can’t get far enough to look at Nico’s face. “Do what?”

“Leave me like that.” Levi’s breath hitches. Nico rests a hand over Levi’s chest, over his heart. “I need you to stick around for awhile, okay? Promise me.”Levi nods, grasping Nico’s hand so he can bring it to his lips. “Okay,” he says, pressing a kiss to each of Nico’s knuckles. “Okay, I promise. I’m not going anywhere.”


End file.
